Understanding the
American Case on the ICC

By

Charles Tannock

Updated July 5, 2002 12:01 a.m. ET

Once again, it seems, America is in the firing line. Unwilling to accept the possibility that an international court might try its soldiers or, worse still, its political and military leaders, for "crimes of war" committed in a signatory state the U.S. has threatened to block U.N. peacekeeping missions unless all U.N. troops are given immunity from prosecution. The EU -- in the forthright words of External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten -- responded by saying it would not "let anyone water down the...